(a) Field
The present invention relates to a plasma display device, and more particularly to a plasma display device having an enhanced heat radiation structure.
(b) Description of the Related Art
As is well known in the art, a plasma display device realizes a desired image using a plasma discharge. Such a plasma display device generally includes a plasma display panel (PDP) for rendering the desired image through plasma discharge activated by an external power source, a chassis base for firmly holding the PDP at its front side, and circuit boards mounted on a rear side of the chassis base for driving the PDP. Front and rear cases are combined with front and rear sides of a PDP module (i.e., a combination of a PDP, a chassis base, and circuit boards)to form such a plasma display device.
Since rendering of a desired image by a PDP is achieved using a plasma discharge as described above, a PDP generally produces a significant amount of heat during its image rendering. A PDP may be damaged when a temperature of thereof increases excessively, so heat dissipation efficiency of a PDP plays an important role in its durability. In this sense, increasing heat dissipation of a PDP has always been an important research topic in the field.
Examples of heat dissipation mechanisms of a PDP may be found in numerous prior technical documents, for example in Laid Open Japanese Patent publication 09-097015 (applicant: MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC IND CO. LTD, date of publication: Apr. 8, 1997), and Laid Open Korean Patent publication 1998-0011613 (applicant: MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC IND CO. LTD, date of publication: Apr. 30, 1998).
As can be gathered from the technical documents, a heat dissipation mechanism of a plasma display device according to the prior art may be generally summarized as follows.
A chassis base is formed of a metal (e.g., aluminum or a compound thereof) having high heat conductivity such that heat generated at a PDP may be easily dissipated. A heat transferring material such as a heat dissipation sheet is disposed between the PDP and the chassis base such that the heat generated at the PDP may be easily transferred to the chassis base. A heat dissipation member (e.g., a heat sink or cooling fins) is attached to a rear side of the chassis base such that a dissipation effect of heat occurs through a front side thereof from the PDP. Therefore, the heat generated at the PDP is transferred to the chassis base through the heat dissipation sheet, and is finally dissipated at the heat dissipation member.
According to such a heat dissipation mechanism of the prior art, when the chassis base and the PDP are attached interposing the heat dissipation sheet, air is frequently trapped to form a layer therebetween. This results from wide areas of the chassis base and the PDP having difficulty forming uniformly close contact therebetween at all spots, and in addition, because a sufficiently high pressure applied for attachment may easily cause damage to the PDP.
In order to reduce formation of such an air layer between the PDP and the chassis base interposing the heat dissipation sheet, according to the prior art, slits for discharging air are frequently formed at the heat dissipation sheet, or the thickness of the heat dissipation sheet is varied in different areas.
However, such features do not sufficiently prevent the occurrence of such an air layer at areas that need to be cooled by dissipating heat. That is, such an air layer is still frequently formed at some locations of the wide PDP-attached area that are unpredictable and uncontrollable.
Different amounts of heat are generated at the PDP at different areas and, accordingly, a surface temperature of the PDP becomes different at different areas. It is therefore preferable that a heat dissipation mechanism of a plasma display device be enhanced such that heat dissipation efficiency may be determined and controlled appropriately, depending on the area of need.
Another problem presented by the prior art heat dissipation mechanism is that negative effects of the dissipated heat on circuit boards mounted on a rear side of the chassis base are ignored, since the general concern has only been about dissipation of heat generated at the PDP. The heat of the PDP is dissipated mainly through the rear side of the chassis base, and such dissipated heat affects elements included in the circuit boards mounted at the rear side of the chassis base. That is, the heat of air heated at the rear side of the chassis base is easily transferred to the elements of the circuit boards mounted at the rear side of the chassis base, e.g., through leads on the surface of the circuit boards.
Therefore, a reduction of heat transfer from a chassis base to a circuit board may enhance the stability and durability of a plasma display device.